1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a body-insertable device system which introduces a capsule type body-insertable device into a subject and acquires images of the interior of the subject picked up by the body-insertable device, and a body-insertable device guiding method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in the field of endoscopes, there is proposed a capsule type body-insertable device (for example, a capsule endoscope) having imaging and radio communication functions. There has been developed a body-insertable device system which acquires images in the subject by using the capsule endoscope. To observe (examine) the insides of the subject, the capsule endoscope is swallowed from the mouth of a subject, for example, and then the endoscope peristaltically moves in the body cavity or in the internal organs, such as stomach and small intestine and picks up images in the subject at intervals for example of 0.5 second until the endoscope is naturally discharged.
The images picked up by the capsule endoscope during the movement of the capsule endoscope in the subject is received by an external display device by way of an antenna attached on the surface of the subject. The display device is wirelessly communicable with the capsule endoscope and capable of storing the images, and successively stores the images received from the capsule endoscope in the subject to a memory. A doctor or a nurse displays the images stored in the display device, i.e., the images of the insides of the digestive tract of the subject, and observes (examines) the insides of the subject to diagnose the subject.
A medical device guiding system is known as such a body-insertable device system. In the medical guiding system, a capsule endoscope is introduced into the subject. The endoscope is constructed such that a protruded member, spirally shaped, is provided on the outer surface of the casing thereof, and a magnetic material is fastened to the inside of the casing. A rotating magnetic field is applied to the capsule endoscope from the outside of the subject, and by controlling the rotating magnetic field, the capsule endoscope is guided to a desired region in the subject. In such a medical device guiding system, the capsule endoscope having been introduced into the subject changes the position and the direction of the endoscope itself by the rotating magnetic field applied from the outside of the subject (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-255174).
The doctor successively displays a series of images picked up over a desired region as an observation region in the digestive tract on the display, and observes the insides of the desired digestive tract in the subject. In this case, the doctor is required to guide the capsule endoscope having been introduced into the digestive tract, to change the imaging field in the digestive tract, and to cause the capsule endoscope to pick up images over the desired region in the digestive tract.
In the conventional body-insertable device system, to change the imaging field of the capsule endoscope having been introduced into a desired digestive tract over the desired region in the digestive tract, the doctor views the images of the insides of the digestive tract, which are displayed on the display, (images picked up by the capsule endoscope having been introduced into the digestive tract) and guides the capsule endoscope while knowing the current position of the capsule endoscope at a time point of picking up the image of the insides of the digestive tract. High skill and much experience are required for the guiding of the capsule endoscope. Only a highly skilled doctor can guide the capsule endoscope so as to change the imaging field over the desired region in the digestive tract without difficulty. This fact indicates that much time and labor are consumed to pick up a series of images over the desired region in the digestive tract as the desired observation region, and the highly skilled doctor is tied to the guiding operation of the capsule endoscope for a long time.